Strapless apron



Oct. 11, 1960 J. E. R. MCKEND STRAPLESS APRON Filed April 5. 1956 FIG!INVENTOR John E. R.McKend FIG. 4

United States Patent Ofiice STRAPLESS APRON John Edwin Robert McKend, 36St. Clarens Ave., Toronto, Ontario, Canada Filed Apr. 5, 1956, Ser. No.576,355

1 Claim. (Cl. 2-48) This invention relates to a strapless apron for safeuse by workingmen or women.

Prior aprons for use in factories embody a neck strap to hold the apronat the correct height on the body of the wearer. The neck strap givesrise to severe discomfort under working conditions of excessive heat orhumidity. Of importance, however, is the great danger inherent in theuse of a neck strap in the event the apron becomes caught in machinery.Many industrial accidents arise from this characteristic of prior apronconstruction. If the neck strap of a prior apron is unused and the apronis held onto the body of the wearer by tie straps at the back only, theapron will not satisfactorily stay in place;

It is the main object of the invention to provide an apron for use byworkingmen or women having a substantially rigid panel portion adaptedto maintain the apron in place on the wearer without the use of a neckstrap.

Another object of the invention is to provide a safety apron having asubstantially rigid panel portion and a body clamping spring memberfastenable thereto to support the apron about the body of the wearer butreadily removable with safety from said wearer when caught in a machine.

A further object of the invention is to provide an apron which may beworn at various heights on the body of the wearer and which will bemaintained at such height by virtue of its construction withoutnecessitating a neck strap.

With these and other objects in view, the invention generally comprisesa sheet of flexible material adapted to cover a portion of the body ofthe wearer; and a rigid panel portion in said sheet adapted to extend atleast partially about the body of the wearer.

Other objects of the invention will be appreciated by a study of thefollowing specification taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is an elevation of a workers apron according to the invention;

Figure 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of Figure 1 omitting somesectional hatching for purposes of clarity;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a spring clamping member of theinvention illustrating its assembly with my apron construct-ion shown inchain lines as it would appear when clamped to the body of the wearer;and

Figure 4 is a plan view of the spring clamping member when not tensionedabout the body of a wearer.

In the drawings, the flexible apron sheet of generally rectangular shapeembodies a rigid panel portion 11 transversely thereof at the upper end12 having a rigidify- 2355,2925 Patented Oct. 11, 1960 ing reinforcingmaterial 13 such as buckram or other means characterized by verticalstiffness. A rear panel 14 is fastened about the reinforcing 13 andsuitable pockets 15 and 16 and edges 17 are finished in any suitable waysuch as by sewing.

Various means may be provided for fastening the rigid panel portion 11about the body of the wearer. In the form of the invention shown inFigure 1, an elastic tape 18 is fastened to portion 11 at 19 and carriesa snap hook device 20 at the free end 21 thereof. The device 20 isadapted to connect to ring 22 on strap 23 fastened at 24 to portion 1 1.

It is preferred, however, to pass a spring clamp 24 through the rigidportion 11 between the sheet 10 and rear panel 14 as indicated in Figure3. Clamp 24 is formed of a springy material in such natural contour asindicated in Figure 4 that upon deflection for clamping action about thewaist of the body of the wearer, distortion of the mid-portion 25thereof effects an inward pressure toward the diaphragm or abdomen ofthe wearer, while in the deflected or clamping position, the clamp 24generally takes the form of an ellipse about the body of the wearerfollowing body contour. The mid-portion 25 in departing inwardly fromsuch contour effects a more comfortable and effective clamping action.

In use, the apron of the invention, by reason of the rigid portion 11thereof is adapted to stay in place upon the body at a selected wearingheight. In this respect, the effective lower edge 27 of the rigidportion 11 prevents downward slipping of the apron on the wearer inparticular when located at the hip line. However, the generaldistribution of clamping pressure by reason of the firm and large areaof contact of the rigid portion is effective to maintain adjustment atany comfortable height.

What I claim as my invention is:

A workers apron comprising in combination: a generally rectangularsheet; a panel portion having end portions, said panel portion forming apart of said sheet and adapted to be clamped to the body of the wearerto provide a support thereon for said sheet; a buckram-like rigidifyingpanel conforming in size to said panel portion and mounted thereon andserving as the sole rigidifying means therefor to distribute theclamping pressure of said panel portion over the full area of the bodyengaged by said rigid portion; an elastic member attached to said panelportion; a ring member having an outside diameter of at elast one andone-half inches and an inside diameter of at least one inch attached tosaid elastic member; a hook member adapted to engage with said ringmember; and an elastic member connecting said hook to an end portion ofsaid panel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS277,178 Webb May 8, 1883 699,513 Garms May 6, 1902 796,695 Blake Aug. 8,1905 2,156,495 Hall May 2, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS 209 Great Britain of1891 404,945 Great Britain Jan. 23, 1934

